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Simplified Social Media: Where will you post?

Does your blog or biz have a social media marketing strategy? (Seriously though, what does that even mean? #WTF 😕⁉)

I’ve been conducting some research around the internet lately trying to crack this social media struggle that seems to have bloggers everywhere up in arms.

The question I asked was this, what is your biggest struggle in regards to social media?

This is what the blogosphere had to say.

“Always time! It takes a long time to curate content and post items.”- Brianna Alise Ganskopp from Craft Thyme.

“I love to troll around SM and find cool things and see what others are up too, I keep getting sucked down the SM wormhole, and realize I’ve been clicking through for an hour or more!” – Nikki Frank-Hamilton from View From In Here.

“Setting up long term goals. I have the strategy, use it, measure it…but it’s for small bits of time. Month to month. I am a numbers person, stats come easy but it’s the long term planning.” – Rosie Digout from Everything’s Coming Up Rosie.

Let’s end the struggle with social media marketing.

Are you seeing a trend here? In one way or another, we are all struggling with finding time to create and implement a social media strategy.

This three part series will help you plan, develop and put your social media strategy into action. I’m going to be referencing a content calendar frequently throughout this series as it’s what I use to schedule my content across each platform. Get your copy here and start scheduling your social media content today.

Social Media Marketing Strategy Series

Part One: Where will you post? What platforms will you use?

The first thing you should realize is that not every platform is right for every blogger. Second, the more platforms that you are on, the more time it will take you to market your blog or biz. (Let’s face it. Marketing takes time, which is something that we all could use a little bit more of. P.S. I wrote a post about how to manage your time like an expert here.)

Decide which platforms you’ll use.

First, go into your Google Analytics and figure out which platforms are sending you the most traffic. Those are the ones you will want to focus on first. For example, if Pinterest sends you the most traffic, you’ll definitely want that to go on your content calendar.

Be realistic when it comes to deciding which platforms you’re going to use. I use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest, and I couldn’t possibly imagine trying to use anymore. Like I said, it takes time to plan, curate and execute content, so don’t overload yourself. Start small, and you can always add more platforms to your strategy later.

Here are a few platforms that I think all bloggers should use.

Facebook (Both a personal account + a business page)

As of April 2016, there are 1.09 billion daily active users on Facebook. Of those daily users the average time spent on Facebook is 20+ minutes. (Source) That means that at any point in time, one of those 1.09 billion users could stumble across your content, like it and share it with a friend. Who might like and share it with their friend, who might like and share it with another friend. All of a sudden your post is viral because one person liked and shared it with a friend.

Twitter

In my opinion, Twitter is the fastest moving social media platform. I don’t come to Twitter to scroll aimlessly through my news feed. No no no, that would be insanity because it gets updated every 10 seconds. I use Twitter to connect with other bloggers and to share useful content with my audience. When somebody tweets or retweets from my profile, that tweet gets broadcast to all of their followers, which gets my profile in front of more people. If they like what they see, they follow. Then I follow back. Instant connection. (Read my post about unusual ways to leverage your Twitter following here.)

You should use Twitter because the focus is more on quantity rather than quality. More followers equals more impressions, which equals more traffic.

Google+

I have to admit, Google+ is the platform that I’m the least efficient with. However, it’s a must for bloggers because the more you post the more content you give Google the search engine to index and link back to your site. (Source)

Pinterest

This is one of the leading social platforms for bloggers because it’s less like a social media platform (where you engage with others), and more like a search engine (where you search for content).

Pinterest is highly visual and emphasizes keywords. This means if you decide to post to Pinterest, you have to have a quality image, and you have to optimize the description and alt text to include keywords, this is what will help your content get discovered.

Other platforms you may want to consider.

Instagram—You DON’T have to be a photographer. You can create beautiful graphics in Canva with very little knowledge of graphic design. (I would highly suggest watching some Canva’s graphic design school videos here.)

Snapchat—similar to Instagram, but less about a perfectly curated feed and more about interacting with your followers on a day to day basis. I’m in love with the platform. So much that I wrote a post about why bloggers NEED to be on Snapchat. You can read it here.

Again, remember to be realistic. Don’t overload your plate. It’s better to start posting regularly with fewer platforms until you get the hang of it. Then you can start adding more to your social media strategy.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Really good, Lindsay. I took last week to evaluate how I was spending my time. Most of my traffic comes from FB, Pinterest & SU. I’m going to quit chasing my tail trying to focus on EVERY possible platform and focus on those!

Isn’t it amazing how easy it is to get side-tracked by other blogging tasks. I realized after looking into my analytics that I wasn’t spending nearly as much time as I should be on the social media platforms that were bringing in traffic. This realization has helped me readjust my workflow. The hardest part for me about social media is the constant change, it’s overwhelming sometimes trying to keep up. I’d love to hear how your social media strategy has been working for you since you started focusing on FB, Pinterest and SU. 🙂

I’m definitely not surprised that most of your referrals are from Pinterest. Your photos are too pretty NOT to share. I read an article about Google+ being the best platform to drive organic traffic back to your blog, so I’m really trying to understand and put more time into it. It just seems like it’s the platform with the least amount of information available. (I wonder why…)

Thanks Lindsey…looking forward to learning more from each of your installments. There is not one SM site that I feel truly 100% knowledgeable about and comfortable with…just enough to be dangerous probably. Thanks for delving into the fine points for us.
Wishing you a lovely week.
Hugs, Lynn

It’s difficult to feel 100% knowledgeable in anything, let alone social media which is constantly changing! I’d love to hear how your social media strategy is coming along, and if you made any changes have they been helpful or not so much? Can’t wait to talk to you soon.